A Beginner’s Guide to a Carnival Like No Other

DESERTED FAIRGROUND - It has been a long time since we had seen a Carnival of
Terror game guide here in the Times. Today I revisit the past and bring to you
a brand new, updated guide to play this not-so-new game that is tucked in the
far corner of the games room, a game quite undervalued by the general Neopian.

Before we go too far into the guide, let’s take a quick look at the basic point
structure:

Clown heads – 2 points

Clown arm – 4 points

Clown legs / pants – 1 points

Clown skeleton / body – 1 point

Umbrella – 3 points

Pie of doom – 5 points

Carnival of Terror, if you ask anyone who is adept at it, is the perfect game
tailor made for a multi-tasker. Whilst trying to get most points out of shooting
down the Chias, you have to keep an eye on pies flying at you, your Health level,
and at the same time glance occasionally at the clock to see that you are not
out of time.

In such a case, it is best to prioritise your shooting options. Let’s start
with the parts in a clown. Looking at the point system alone, it is easy to
draw up a suitable list of priorities for shooting just the clown:

1. Clown arm

2. Clown heads

3. Clown legs

4. Clown body

If you have the luxury of time on your hands (for example, in a stretch of
time when you don’t see any pies, or when there are very little clowns around),
try to click on each part of the clown, in the order mentioned. You may also
shoot the umbrella from a falling clown for some extra points. Remember to aim
well, since you have ample time on your hands.

Here we see that the main aim each time we see a clown is its arm. Go for the
arm that faces you, and disregard the one on the other side of the clown’s body
– you are most likely to miss it, and in turn waste your ammo instead.

Warning – a clown with both the leg and the arm shot down is extremely explosive.
Do be careful not to simply ignore such a clown, because when it explodes it
will affect your Health level. In my opinion it is best to quickly destroy the
robot clown by clicking on its body before it can explode. Otherwise, you may
choose not to shoot the legs at all in the first place.

You might also like to note that it is not always profitable for your points
to aim for a clown that is far away (which thus looks small on the screen).
In the process of trying to shoot down that one clown you may end up losing
quite a lot of ammo (due to inaccuracy), and also miss other more important
components of the game (like shooting the pies).

But the clowns are not the only things in the game. You also need to pay attention
to the pies of doom. Should you see them in the course of playing the game,
you are encouraged to quickly shoot down these pies before anything else (don’t
even worry about the clowns), for two good reasons:

1. They give you the most points per shooting.

2. If they hit you, your Health level will drop. Shooting them will prevent
them from hitting you, thus saving your Health.

Take note though, that the pies usually fly at a very fast rate, so always
keep an eye open for them, so that you can see them coming from afar and get
yourself ready. From experience and close observation it seems the pies come
from those Clown Chias that are “far away”. So each time you notice a small
Chia figure, be extra alert to take note of any pies flying in your direction.
It is best that you can shoot them while they appear small. If you hesitate,
it might just be too late to fire at them – they would have hit you already.

So that’s that for the gaining of points. But what about all the Health and
ammo that I have been talking about?

Your Health, ammo level and time left are located at the bottom right corner
of the screen. The green “+” signs indicate your Health level (each time a pie
hits you, or a clown explodes, it goes down), the black strip shows how much
ammo you have (each time you left click on the mouse it will go down), and the
red clock shows how much time you have left. Never waste your time counting
how many “+” signs you have, or trying to figure out what the time on the clock
says. Simply make a rough gauge. An example of being in short supply of each
component would be:

· You have less than half the black strip than when you started. When the strip
starts blinking, that’s when you have an extremely low amount of it.

· The red clock starts blinking.

· You have only a few “+” signs left.

Should any of these three components run out completely, your game will be
instantly over. Which means you should always try to replenish them even before
you see that they are depleting.

In the course of the game, you are bound to encounter wooden boxes, first-aid
boxes or clocks floating down from the top of the screen. My strategy would
be to always pick up the wooden boxes (which gives ammo – these always run out
pretty fast) and clocks (for extra time) but only to pick up the first-aids
(for Health) when I see that my Health is on the low. With ample practice, you
would have no problem shooting down pies and clowns before they explode, which
means your Health will hardly be affected at all.

If you see that your ammo is getting pretty low, stop clicking on things altogether
until you see the wooden crate floating down. This will help prevent further
depletion of ammo. There are some exceptions though. Do click on pies or clocks
even if you have low ammo. This is so that you do not need to worry about the
time wasted waiting for a wooden box to appear, nor about the number of pies
destroying your Health level while you wait.

If you see that your red clock is blinking and that there aren’t any clocks
for you to click, don’t waste more time waiting for a clock to come by. Always
try to make full use of the leftover ammo and shoot as many clowns or pies and
as fast as you can before your game is over. Of course, make sure you also keep
an eye out for any clocks at the same time.

After some time of playing, you will definitely become familiar with the game
and at this point players tend to be able to play for longer periods of time.
This is when stamina and perseverance comes in. By that I mean not giving up
due to lack of interest. Playing a single game of Carnival of Terror for fifteen
to twenty minutes straight can be tiring and can get a bit dry, but let the
points you can get out of it motivate you. Remember, the longer you play, the
more points you get.

Most of the time in the game you would be rushing around, trying to click on
specific parts of the clowns, aiming for the wooden crates, checking your ammo
meter. Remember that practise makes perfect and that you’ll need at least some
experience in the game to get the hang of it, or even to play it well. Practise
also means that your skills in aiming will get better, you will fire a lot faster,
and that you will know immediately what to shoot first even in the face of a
scene with lots of movement and action.

To sum it up, Carnival of Terror is a game of speed and which requires a clear
mind. Know for certain what to shoot in a particular situation and do it fast.
Never let the three important components (Health, ammo and time) run out, so
that you can stay longer in the game and earn even more points. By then it would
be a matter of perseverance and doggedness that separates a good player from
an amateur.

I hope that this beginner’s guide to Carnival of Terror has helped you in one
way or another. Hope that you will get onto the high score board very soon,
and perhaps even earn you that elusive trophy you’ve always wanted!

Search the Neopian Times

Great stories!

---------

Caged"Well, think of all those poor pets in the pound--
not the ones with pretty coats or high stats. Think of those rows upon rows
of cages, gray and monotonous. It's awful just thinking about it, but what if
you had to live there, every day!"

A Shadow in the Light: It has Begun - Part OneThe
figure waited patiently, its shadowed form low on the verdant grass atop a small
hillcrest. Then, suddenly, a small crimson fire bloomed in the meadows below,
and the figure stood and leaped toward the signal at a swift pace.